Do not take this course with him

Crazy hard tests. I'm an A student and I failed both midterms (still passed with a B- though). Lectures are boring and he uses all 3 hours and he never prepares before. Makes you buy that million dollar Mcgraw Hill connect code. Lots of HW and quizzes. I asked him lots of questions about the quizzes and he usually said "IDK". NOT HELPFUL.

Worst class I've taken at state, do not take him! Take any other teacher. Retaking the class this semester

The worst professor ever. He does not teach well. His lectures are boring, and he reads the textbook. Exam questions are based on lectures, videos, and the things that he mentions in the class. He should not be teaching.

Lectures are extremely boring and he just reads off slides and gives examples that aren't relevant to the tests. Study learn smarts and you'll be fine.

Only took professor Gaffen for the reason it was the only class available. The tests are hard, the lectures are worthless, and did not learn anything about marketing.

My overall opinion on this professor and BA -370 he taught so far is awful. The lecture is poor & just reads off PowerPoint slides. If you email him worried about your grade, he will ignore it. You essentially have to teach your self & read the book. The practice quizzes are not enough. Not nearly as difficult as his test questions.

HE DOES NOT CARE. ITS THAT SIMPLE. HE DOSENT CARE, HE ISN'T HELPFUL. IM NOT LEARNING.

For this class you will have 3 exams which gonna be 78% of your grades, 22.5% of your grades on quizzes and assignments. Exam will be 50 multiple choice in 50 mins, the questions are long with 5 choices which means 1 min per question only enough to let you read through the question. HIGHLY NOT RECOMMEND

Mktg479 Absolute waste of money taking this professor. He never teaches but chooses to play poorly streamed videos with such poor audio quality it is impossible to understand. You could get a better education on youtube. Not to mention you will be expected to present every week with no guidelines or outlines given by the prof. Insanely bad.

Hard grader and wants things not mentioned.

Probably one of the hardest teachers here at State. So many assignments! Try to take it with someone else! Highly recommend not taking this instructor. He is also a pretty tough grader.

Lectures are him reading from textbook/PP slides, playing youtube vids of other profs, &talking about In-n-Out & how rich his friends are. Doesn't actually answer student questions. Just speculates & tells you to wait or look it up. Uses only the publisher's material, ANYONE could teach this class. Maybe he's a nice guy but he isn't a good teacher.

Honestly the worst professor ever. Very lecture heavy & there is a smartbook assignment for each chapter due before class. The tests are about 5 chapters and there are quizzes due with normally 2-3 weeks to take them. This class revolves around a lot of reading & studying. Also he is the worst when it comes to technical problems with proctorio.

Gaffen is the worst teacher I've had in college. Changes class syllabus and still doesn't adhere to it. Gives pop quizzes at any time during the semester which cannot increase your grade, only decrease it. Pop quiz scores range from -2 to 0. When Proctorio (spyware) glitches you from taking a test, Gaffen will not care and you may get a zero on it.

You will lean NOTHING that is "taught" by Gaffen. This course is fully self taught (quizzes and smart books), then you sit in lectures during the week where he talks about his life. He doesn't even make his own exams, just uses MH exams. If you are cool with self teaching/self test taking, this is the course for you. Otherwise, STAY AWAY!

This class is an absolute scam. Steven Gaffen's class is worse than watching paint dry. The exams are all Mcgraw Hill questions taken from the ungraded practice quizzes. The class meetings consist of a few PPT slides of textbook diagrams and the rest is him just talking about irrelevant things and ads cutout from magazines. Take someone else.

The lectures are useless. They don't help explain the concepts or add anything. l was hoping reading the book would help with the quizzes but it seems like he picks the most obscure details to ask about. You have to teach the concepts to yourself. Avoid this online class.

this professor is useless, the exam is rely on McGraw hill, even with that the question on the exam gets mixed or add it to make the exam fail, terrible communication, lame lectures, and old school, I'm a marketing major and I have to retake this class because of Geffen. The only good thing about is that he drops the lowest quiz and assignment.

My dad died in the first week of the SP23 semester. I emailed Gaffen to ask if I could have the notes for that week since I was not going to school. He told me to ask a classmate for notes and to send him proof that my dad died. No condolences, & no need to ask me for proof if he wasn't even gonna give me the notes.

Take another Prof if possible! He changed last exam format and everyone I know failed. The textbook and practice quizzes didn't even help, I spent studying 1 whole day for 6 chapters. NO CURVE! Reads off textbook word for word in a monotone tedious voice. Half the class is spent trying to browse through his email for videos that aren't relevant.

This teacher is horrible he reads off slides that just include videos and he talks about random pointless stuff in class and the makes the test worth 80% of your grade. Everyone failed the final, the class average was 56 and he didn't curve it at all. The test had nothing to do with the practice tests he gives us. He doesnt care about his students

He changed the final exam last second and the average was a 56 no curve. Lots of people had their grades wrecked highest exam grade was 80

Professor gaffen is an absolute joke. Wastes time in lecture looking at emails or reading textbook chapters we already read instead of expanding on concepts. Changed the format of the final exam without warning and mocked the class after seeing the average. He cannot be compromised with and offers little or no help outside of class. just dont.

The days of the practice quizzes are over. He stuck to the script for the first test but I noticed that he started to deviate during the second exam, and it showed because the class average for the test was lower than the first. For the last exam he went off the rails and completely changed the questions and he clearly wrote them out. Avoid

Went to almost every class and still only got a 58 on the final which dropped me from an A to B. I don't understand why he'd deviate from what he did for the first two exams and on top of that not curve the grade even though the average was an F. On top of all of this, his lectures were just him reading off the textbook and didn't help on the final

Ok, teacher but he has no social awareness my class had a test on Valentine's Day in the computer lab at 7 pm.

This class is more about reading riddles and remembering minute details from textbook examples than knowing marketing. Steve needs a reality check.

He's actually one of the worst professors I've ever had since I've started college. He removed the practice quizzes, which is a nice way to study for his exams, since the actual quizzes we're required to take have NOTHING to do with the exam. On our first exam, SOME people got a curve and others for some reason. His lectures also have no substance.

His course revolves ONLY on the textbook. You'd do well to study the textbook and lectures are pretty much useless. He paraphrases the textbook and the exams are ridiculously unfair, be sure to memorize small details of the textbook if you want to pass the class.

AVOID THIS TEACHER!!!! He reads straight off of the slides for lectures and just goes over what we already read for homework so no one shows up for class. He made his own questions for the tests and they all suck (terribly worded and purposely tricky), the highest grade on the last test was a B+ and the average was a D+. HEED MY WARNINGS

Pray Pray Pray to god, that you pass this class. 1 midterm, 1 final exam. The professor explains about In & Out food. The lecture could have been a little better. Questions will be answered but changed to a different topic. The class was a very tough. As a learning disability student he was very tough, this is a SELF LEARNING CLASS. Good luck.

AWFUL. Everything you read about him is true. I thought people were dramatic, but they weren't. He gave us access to the practice quizzes, and after the first exam decided to take them away because everyone scored "too high" (the average was a 60%). He claims not to curve. He's super salty about people not attending, but no attendance is taken. RUN

He seems like a nice enough person but the tests are ridiculous. Not tested on any concepts that you learn, only random facts that you would never remember on your own. I am a straight-A student, and I am PRAYING for a B in this class but I don't know if I will get it. Take any other professor if you can

stay away from this proffesor. his class is 78% test and 22% hw and quizzes. all he does is read off power points so his lectures are pretty much useless. the material isn't hard at all, but the way he words questions on exams is absurd. the average on the final was a 50% and he didn't curve it. do not take him!!!

DO NOT TAKE HIM!!!! His lectures are so boring and he will put random facts about random stores he mentioned on the exam. His exams also made no sense. I attended every single class, studied hard, and still got a 76% in the class. If you care about your mental health whatever you do, do not take him.

gaffen does not care about the success of his students whatsoever. he is hell-bent on making SIMPLE marketing concepts as difficult and confusing as possible on exams just bc he's mad no one shows up to class. you aren't tested on your actual understanding of marketing, but on useless minute details/quotes discussed during lecture. don't take him!!

This class is beyond lame. Gaffen is the first professor I've ever had who's actually been hostile towards students studying for exams. He removed the ungraded practice quizzes that every other class has enabled to help study. Out of the 228 students who took exam 2, the high score was an 88%... Oh, and there is zero curve in the class. Avoid!!

I would not take this class. The lectures and textbook do not really help, so the class just feels a bit pointless.

Don't take this POS professor. His goal is to fail you and his tests DO NOT reflect his teaching (which btw is terrible and off topic). He makes more sure you don't cheat rather than making sure you can pass. Test averages are 60%

This professor doesn't care about you in any way. The class averages for all 3 exams ranged from 55-70%. He doesn't curve and drops 1 assignment and 1 quiz, which in total doesn't do more than a 1-2% difference to your grade. His test questions are like riddles, you had to decipher what he's trying to ask you before you can answer the question. RUN

terrible. i got my first C in this class. i regret everything.

Always been an A and B student and this was my first ever C. Gaffens lectures are often off-topic and useless when it comes to the test. Exam questions don't come anywhere close to the McGraw-Hill Connect homework assignments and are a complete curveball. Exam averages came out to anywhere between 55-65% for the 3 exams that make your grade. AVOID

Exam questions are unfair and have nothing to do with the notes. The questions often have nothing to do with the slides from class, and you have to write down anything he says since it can be on the exam. He gives the impression he wants his students to do poorly since after a 68% average on Exam1 he took away the practice exams. No way to prepare.

If you can take someone else for marketing do it because Gaffen does not want you to succeed. He rewrote all the exam questions to be confusing with ambiguous wording, averages are in the 50-60s range and he doesn't curve. He's the type to brag about how difficult it is to pass his class and does not lecture well

Gaffen is an old soul but he is completely washed at teaching. I'm pretty sure the marketing dept is on his headtop because his final just got curved for the first time in history. His test questions are heinous, don't take him if you can but if he starts curving tests you might have a chance.

Just really really bad. Very boring, and Im a marketing major so this should be interesting to me. It wasn't, it was so boring that I dropped the class due to no motivation to study. Very unclear tests with weird questions.

Terrible. Marketing is literally my major and I HATED this class so much that i withdrew due to unclear grading, terrible and boring lectures, and awful exams. Do not take him.

Listened to advice of the reviews and didn't show up to a single class because of how useless his lectures were. If u have to take this class / there are no options don't show up to lectures and study smart books HEAVY. even doing that I never got higher then a c on every exam BEING IN THE 90th PERCENTILE. He randomly curved 10% bc everyone failed

Honestly if you can take anyone else just take them. Olsen is better overall.

To pass the class, you must review the proctored practice quizzes; the tests are based on those. He gives extra credit, but it's only 4%, and a curve isn't guaranteed unless he gets enough complaints. He's so boring. Don't go to class. Just download the ppt slides, and whatever he says in class is on there. If you can, take a different professor

BAD DONT EVER TAKE IT!!

Simply put hes just not a good professor. His lectures are pointless because he just reads off the textbook. 3 tests that essentially determine your entire grade so just study for those. Hell have smartbooks due but those are based on completion. If you want an easy grade take him, if you want to actually learn dont take him. Bad all around tbh

He just reads off his slides which he gets straight from the textbook. I stopped going to his lectures after the first test because it was a waste of time. Tests are worth 78% of your grade where the class avg is between C- and D. Study the SmartBook and quizzes and you'll pass, but be prepared to learn on your own. The book is your teacher here.

AWEFUL his smart books assignments and quizzes are ONLY 22% OF THE TOAL GRADE AND THE 3 EXAMS ARE 78% OF THE TOTAL GRADE. His lecture literally only the textbook and he shows a couple you tube videos. HE EXPECTS YOU TO KNOW HOW TO APPLY THEM TO REAL LIFE SCENERIOS BUT NEVER PROVIDES EXAMPLES. HE DOESNT CURVE EXAMS, REVIEW, OR CHEAT SHEET.

My exam grades were 58%, 58%, 62%. He hasn't curved the grades and now I have to retake this class. His test questions are off topic, and rather than testing on your knowledge of Marketing, he asks minute detail extremely specific class based questions. That's why class average is low and ppl fail, his test questions are riddles. RUN!

Not a good professor, and if you can please take someone else. You can tell when a professor actually cares about their students and wants to see their students succeed (he wasn't one of those). He just reads off of a powerpoint for his lessons and all of the content is on the book, so just read and study off the book. Also study the smartbooks.

This professor is either too busy or disengaged. When emailing with questions, I assume professors have multiple classes, so my emails aren't specific. However, he mistakenly confused me with another student twice and gave wrong info. He's strict, unapproachable, and offers no extra credit. Avoid MKTG371 if possible.

Definitely avoid this professor if you can - his lectures are dry and his exams are notoriously difficult, with unclear questions that have little to do with the material. However, using Unstuck study and the textbook helped me scrape by with a decent grade.

Took his class last semester and had a rough time. While the content of the class wasn't difficult to understand, the homework being tedious and worth very little points, and the oddly difficult exams with questions about random people in a video we watched weeks before was ridiculous. He acted friendly, but didn't seem to care. Avoid if you can.

I've attended every single lecture, have taken notes, completed all homework assignments, completed all quizzes, studied the textbook, studied Sharpen, made flashcards and still received a D on the first exam. Now my grade is a D and I need a 75 to pass as a marketing major. very discouraging as a student. Lectures are not helpful to the exam!!

Do a lot of studying on the homework and quizzes, you'll get more use from that than any of his lectures. He still makes you go to the lectures though because he randomly names people from videos watched at the lecture so if you have a friend or gc, make sure to ask or have some give the video title that was watched in the lecture if you don't come

This professor is consistently on a power trip. His guidelines for assignments are vague yet when you do not meet expectations you can typically expect no more than a 50% on any given assignment. On top of this all online communications with this professor felt rude and short. My first and only tip is to avoid this professor at all costs.

This guy does not want you to succeed. He is very liberal and enjoys pushing those messages in class, rather than helping you learn the information. He also posts slides on canvas that are not the ones he uses in class, out of spite I guess.

This teacher is petty. The class is low quality as well. On the exams, they are so lazy that you will get multiple of the same question on the exam. Very unimpressed that by SDSU for having such poor quality teaching staff.

Awful, this professor completely relies on McGraw Hill connect for all material and grading, zero originality. This course could be taught independently, but the professor implements questions regarding the name of a presenter from a video watched in class, very petty. The good reviews on here are most likely from his account or his TAs accounts.

i don't know how you can take something as simple as marketing and turn it into rocket science. by the end of the semester there was like 20 ppl attending what's supposed to be a full class lecture. AVOID! RUNNN!! this prof does NOT care about students, boring irrelevant lectures and the tests are like solving riddles. SDSU should be ashamed!!!

Nice guy, awful professor. Lectures are useless, tests are ridiculously unpredictable and petty, class is boring and dry. Overall he doesn't really teach anything, you are forced to learn everything on your own. By far one of the worst professors in campus, avoid him at all costs.

Laughably terrible class with 0 passion. Its two hours of him rambling over old powerpoints. Attendance is not mandatory but he will include niche questions from videos he plays in class. You notice less and less people show up to his class and you can tell it really offends him. It is unfortunate he is one of the only professors that teachers 370

I took this class and was not the best experience, I highly suggest you do a lot of prayers for this class. As a Learning disability student it was very tough. All the teacher cared about was In and Out food. I did have a tutor from TRIO. I don't know if she is still around. Not the best marketing class I have ever taken. NO to this class.